Polemic

Almut Suerbaum, George Southcombe, Benjamin Thompson

If terms are associated with particular historical periods, then 'polemic' is firmly rooted within early modern print culture, the apparently inevitable result of religious controversy and the rise of print media. Taking a broad European approach, this collection brings together specialists on medieval as well as early modern culture in order to challenge stubborn assumptions that medieval culture was homogenous and characterized by consensus; and that literary discourse is by nature 'eirenic'. Instead, the volume shows more clearly the continuities and discontinuities, especially how medieval discourse on the sins of the tongue continued into early modern discussion, how popular and influential medieval genres such as sermons and hagiography dealt with potentially heterodox positions, and the role of literary, especially fictional, debate in developing modes of articulating discord;...